It is known to produce substrates, in particular including those comprising an insulating or carrier layer composed of ceramic, for example aluminum oxide ceramic, in a multiple panel, that is to say as a multiple substrate comprising a multiplicity of individual substrates on the common insulating and carrier layer, and also to populate them with electronic components, wherein the multiple substrate is then separated or singulated into the individual substrates for further use. This singulation is carried out, particularly in the case of multiple substrates comprising an insulating and carrier layer composed of ceramic, by cutting, in particular by means of a laser, along cutting lines delimiting the individual substrates and/or breaking along the cutting or predetermined breaking lines.
Such multiple substrates are described for example in DE 195 04 378 A1, DE 44 44 680 A1 and DE 93 10 299 U1.
The ceramic substrates mentioned above are used for producing electrical circuits, in particular power circuits, and are usually provided with a metallization on at least one surface side, said metallization being patterned using an etching technique in such a way that it forms the conductor tracks, contact pads and the like that are required for the circuit.
For efficient fabrication of the electrical circuits it is known to perform the production of these circuits in a multiple panel, that is to say to perform in particular the patterning of the metal surfaces for obtaining the necessary conductor tracks, contact pads and the like, but also the population with the electronic components, on the multiple panel, which is then separated into the respective individual substrates after completion of the patterning and/or population. In the process, however, information concerning the individual substrate is lost, for example the position of the individual substrate in the multiple panel, the manufacturer of the individual substrate, the revision number of the layout and the like, since this information is usually only stored in an edge region of the multiple panel or multiple substrate.
DE 40 04 844 C1 discloses providing holes in a metallization of a ceramic substrate, said holes being produced by etching, in order to avoid large differences in compressive and tensile stress between the ceramic substrate and the metallization applied thereon.
In a similar manner, DE 43 18 241 A1 discloses bringing about a weakening in places in an edge region of a metal layer fixed in a planar manner on an insulating layer, by two series of openings being introduced into the metal layer along said edge region.